


etchings

by fortheloveoflestrade



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Etchings, F/M, M/M, Multi, Soulmate AU, errybody - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-24
Updated: 2016-12-24
Packaged: 2018-09-11 14:14:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8984707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fortheloveoflestrade/pseuds/fortheloveoflestrade
Summary: this is not complete, maybe. idk.





	

**Author's Note:**

> this is not complete, maybe. idk.

Steve has three.  
Bucky’s small, cramped letters in Army green around his left bicep: “I’m with you ’til the end of the line.”  
Deep red like her lipstick on the pad of his right foot, in Peggy’s neat cursive: “You still owe me a dance.”  
And Sam’s navy blue chicken scratch, almost indecipherable below his left kneecap: “I never said I was a pilot.”

Bucky has only two etchings. But after the war, he seems to have traded one for another.  
Steve’s was there for as long as he could remember, identical to the one Steve has in every way except handwriting. He loses it along with his arm. He later replaces it with a tattoo on his right bicep.  
The other, he doesn’t remember when it appeared, only that he noticed it after meeting Steve again, suspended somewhere between being a Weapon and being Bucky. Gunmetal gray, almost generic script on his right calf: “без сучка без задоринки?” or “Without a hitch?” He eventually discovers it belongs to Natasha, and realizes he would not have this mark if not for his experiences in HYDRA.

Nat has three etchings, spread across her body.  
One belongs to Clint, of course: “I’m offering you a way out, kid.” It is deep purple and all block letters across her ribcage.  
The next belongs to Laura: “You’ll always have a place here.” It is a soft lavender, comforting and neat, rounded letters just below Clint’s.  
The third remains a mystery for a long while—until the Winter Soldier once again becomes Bucky Barnes and finds his way to the Avengers team, with some help from Steve. It is hidden in the back of her knee, in small, cramped silver Cyrillic letters: “более-менее” or “More or less.”

Laura has two.  
Clint’s: “I think I want to marry you.” It is purple and wraps around her wrist like a thin bracelet.  
And Nat’s, which comes later, a gray that sometimes looks blue and sometimes silver, just above her left kneecap: “You are an amazing mother."

Clint has four etchings, but he only counts them as three.  
Laura’s, warm and casual around his wrist: “Come home safely to us.”  
Natasha’s, black and angry, yet small and familiar on his shoulder: “I can’t outrun my past forever, can I?”  
And the two that are so connected that he considers them one and the same, belonging to the Maximoff twins. Pietro’s is silver and swirls around his ankle, intertwined with his sister’s neater, red hand: “You didn’t see that coming?” and “Thank you for the stupid speech."

Wanda has two until she has three.  
Pietro’s silver down her pinky finger: “Well, I am twelve minutes older.”  
Clint’s deep purple on the back of her ankle: “You can do this.”  
Another comes much later, special in its own way, changing from gold to red to green depending on the light, and right below her sternum. No words. Simply an eye.

Pietro has three.   
Wanda’s, scarlet and inside his pinky just like hers: “So you keep telling me.”  
Clint’s, the same shade of purple but on the outside of his foot: “Quick little pain-in-the-ass.”  
And a third, indecipherable to even Tony Stark’s super computers. Sort of like a crescent, but elongated, in shiny black on the back of his neck.

Sam has five, the most out of the whole team.  
Steve’s, navy blue and on his lower back: “On your left.”  
Riley’s, black at first but faded to scarred gray, over his shoulder blades where his wings sit: “Fly on, brother.”  
One belonging to his mother, just below the hairline on the back of his neck, not scarred but still fading with time: “Be strong for me.”  
And two more, sources unknown as of yet. One over his heart that says “Do what you gotta do,” and another that looks like it hasn’t surfaced completely yet, waiting to emerge, just below the other over his heart.

Tony Stark has two etchings.  
Pepper’s vibrant orange around his right ankle, in elegant rounded letters: “I hate job-hunting.”  
And his father’s, faded to a graying scar ever since the car crash, long and quick across his left should blade: “One day this will all be yours, son.”

Peggy Carter has four etchings.  
Steve’s small but frantic shorthand in blood red across her hip: “Everybody get back!”  
Howard’s long, scratching words inside her left bicep, white before and after he dies: “I know what he meant to you, Peggy.”  
Jarvis’ neat and unflourished “Miss Carter” in black on top of her left foot.  
And Angie’s magenta scrawl, parallel on her opposite hip to Steve’s: “I like you, English.”

Thor has three etchings.  
Jane’s is short, formal, and gold around his navel: “Whatever, thunder-boy.” This did not appear until Thor came to Earth.  
His mother’s, wrapped around his wrist, in loopy Asgardian characters, turquoise until it scars over: “Look out for the ones you love, my son.”  
And Loki’s, deep green and in the center of his back, like a placemark for a knife: “Did you think it would be so simple, brother?"


End file.
